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Engineering, Building, and Architecture

Not many museums collect houses. The National Museum of American History has four, as well as two outbuildings, 11 rooms, an elevator, many building components, and some architectural elements from the White House. Drafting manuals are supplemented by many prints of buildings and other architectural subjects. The breadth of the museum's collections adds some surprising objects to these holdings, such as fans, purses, handkerchiefs, T-shirts, and other objects bearing images of buildings.

The engineering artifacts document the history of civil and mechanical engineering in the United States. So far, the Museum has declined to collect dams, skyscrapers, and bridges, but these and other important engineering achievements are preserved through blueprints, drawings, models, photographs, sketches, paintings, technical reports, and field notes.

The adjustable tracer arm on this German silver and bronzed brass instrument is evenly divided to tenths of a unit, with each unit equal to 5mm, and numbered from 5 to 36. The measuring wheel, vernier, and registering dial are white plastic. A second vernier is made of German silver and used with the scale on the tracer arm. The carriage for the measuring wheel is marked: No 25743. The pole arm fits inside a tube attached to a cylindrical weight, allowing the arm's length to be adjusted. The pole arm has a scale like the scale on the tracer arm, but it is numbered from 30 to 34. The tube is marked: G. Coradi, Zürich Switzerland.

An oblong German silver testing rule is marked for 0", 1", 2", and 3". It is also marked: G. Coradi Zürich. A wooden case covered with black morocco leather is lined with purple velvet. A printed paper chart is pasted inside the case. The chart has columns for Scales, Position of the vernier on the tracer bar, Value of the unit of the vernier on the measuring roller, and Constant. The values in the Position and Constant columns are handwritten in the same hand that indicates the Coradi firm manufactured this planimeter with serial number 25,748 in 1917.

The label is also stamped in purple: 4242. This was the model number used by Keuffel & Esser of New York, which sold the instrument from 1901 to 1972. The price was $46.50 in 1909, $33.50 in 1915, and $55.00 in 1921; presumably, World War I affected Coradi's ability to export planimeters. By 1936, a German firm was manufacturing model 4242 for K&E's Paragon product line. Compare to 1998.0032.03. See 1991.0882.02 for a later instruction manual.

This metal drawing instrument allows civil engineers to translate their measurements into drawings with a minimum of calculation. It consists of a flat steel base bar 81.5 cm (about 32 inches) long, a semicircular protractor with a flat plate along the diameter that slides along the base bar, a long steel arm clamped to the protractor at its center, a brass set square or sliding square that moves along the arm, and a tri-leaved scale (like an architect’s scale) that moves along the arm or along the set square. There are four metal springs, each with its own screw. The two smaller springs hold the protractor plate to the base bar and the two larger ones hold the tri-leaved scale or the set square to the arm. The entire instrument fits in a wooden case. A sheet of instructions is pasted inside the case.

The protractor is divided by half-degrees and marked by tens from 0° to 90° to 0° and from 90° to 0° to 90°. An attached vernier permits angle readings to one minute of arc. The ratios on the architect's scales range from 1:10 to 1:60. Each scale is divided into tenths of a unit.

This is a modified form of the protracting trigonometer patented by Josiah Lyman of Lenox, Mass., in 1858, with reissue of the patent in 1860, and extension in 1872 (for an example of the protracting trigonometer, see MA*328738; for an architect’s rule patented by Lyman, see MA*308914). The instrument was made by Heller & Brightly of Philadelphia. According to a Heller & Brightly circular, the instrument sold with either a tri-leaved scale that was 6 inches long or one that was 12 inches long. This instrument has the 12-inch scale, and would have sold in 1878 for $30.00.

Hobart Cutler Dickinson (1875–1949), a 1900 graduate of Williams College who obtained a master’s degree there and did further graduate work at Clark University (Ph.D. 1910), owned this object. Dickinson worked at the U.S. National Bureau of Standards from 1903 until his retirement in 1945. Dickinson was the father of Anne D. Ross, one of the donors of the instrument.

The largest artifact in the museum, this Georgian-style, 2 ½-story timber-framed house was built in the 1760s and stood at 16 Elm Street in the center of Ipswich, Massachusetts, until 1963 when efforts by Ipswich citizens saved it from the bulldozer. The house was carefully taken apart—the frame, chimney, and many other pieces were shipped to the Museum and reassembled.

Today, the house is the centerpiece of the exhibition Within These Walls , and visitors are able to peer through its walls, windows, and doors to view settings played out against the backdrop of Colonial America, the American Revolution, the abolitionist movement, the industrial era, and World War II. The exhibition tells the story of five ordinary families, selected from many, who lived in this house over 200 years and made history in their kitchens and parlors, through everyday choices and personal acts of courage and sacrifice.

This polar planimeter has a German silver tracer arm that is evenly divided to half-millimeters and numbered from 8 to 66. (One unit is equivalent to 5mm.) The tracer point is bronzed brass and steel and has a support. The length of the tracer arm may be adjusted by thumbscrews on a bronzed brass carriage. A hinged horizontal extension from the carriage holds a white plastic vernier, measuring wheel, and registering dial. The wheel rests on a black-coated aluminum disc faced with white paper. The wheel and disc both rotate when the tracer point is moved. The disc regulates the motion of the wheel, so that it is not affected by folds or other uneven points in the paper with the diagram to be traced.

A bronzed brass holder for the disc is marked: G. Coradi. Zürich. Switzerland (/) No 4012. The holder rests in the middle of a round brass weight that is 6" in diameter. An oblong German silver testing rule is marked for 0", 1", 2", and 3". It is also marked: G. Coradi Zürich. An oblong brass testing rule is marked for inches and for 0, 50, and 100mm. It is also marked: G. Coradi Zürich.

A wooden case covered with black morocco leather is lined with purple velvet. A printed paper chart is pasted inside the case. The chart has columns for Scales, Position of the vernier on the tracer bar, Value of the unit of the vernier on the measuring roller, and Constant. The values in the Position and Constant columns are handwritten in the same hand that indicates the Coradi firm manufactured this planimeter with serial number 4,012 on March 25, 1916.

Gottlieb Coradi (1847–1929) began to make wheel and disc polar planimeters in the early 1880s. The Interstate Commerce Commission transferred this instrument to the Smithsonian in 1962. There is no record of where the ICC purchased the planimeter, but American firms such as Keuffel & Esser (1906–1936 as model 4251) and Dietzgen (by 1926, as model 1808) distributed Coradi's precision disc planimeter. K&E sold it for $95.00 in 1906, for $85.00 in 1909 and, by special order, for $215.00 in 1936. Dietzgen charged $127.00 in 1926. ID number 1977.0112.02 is an instruction manual.

This instrument has two arms. The first arm is 9" long. Made of German silver, it has a brass and steel tracer point. The arm is evenly divided into tenths and numbered from 5 to 38. It fits into a brass carriage, painted black, which also holds a white plastic measuring wheel, vernier, and registering dial. Screws on the carriage adjust the length of the tracer arm. The carriage is marked: No 22241.

An 8" brass (painted black) pole arm fits into a hole in the carriage. A cylindrical brass weight is attached to the other end. The arm is marked: G. Coradi, Zürich Switzerland Keuffel & Esser Co New York. An oblong steel testing plate is marked for 0", 1", 2", and 3". It is also marked: G. Coradi Zürich.

A wooden case covered with black leather is lined with purple velvet. A printed paper chart is pasted inside the case. The chart has columns for Scales, Position of the vernier on the tracer bar, Value of the unit of the vernier on the measuring roller, and Constant. The values in the Position and Constant columns are handwritten in the same hand that indicates the Coradi firm manufactured this planimeter with serial number 22,241 on July 15, 1914. Keuffel & Esser stamped the chart with its model number, 4240.

Gottlieb Coradi (1847–1929) began to make wheel and disc polar planimeters in the early 1880s. In 1894 he made the pole arm higher than the tracer arm and connected the arms with a ball joint. This "compensating" planimeter could trace in both the clockwise and counterclockwise directions, preventing errors introduced by planimeters made in the Amsler style. In 1901 K&E began selling Coradi's compensating planimeter for $36.00. In 1936 the firm began offering the planimeter under the company's Paragon brand name and charged $49.00. K&E stopped selling the instrument in 1939. The Interstate Commerce Commission transferred this example to the Smithsonian in 1963. ID number 1977.0112.02 is an instruction manual.

On August 18, 1902, Levi T. Snow of New Haven, Conn., filed a U.S. patent application for improvements to the planimeter invented in 1882 by John Coffin for measuring the area under curves drawn by the gauge on a steam engine. (See MA*323708, MA*323705, and 1987.0107.03.) For instance, Snow added a tube containing a set of scales for the pressures under which the diagrams were made. He assigned the patent to the John S. Bushnell Company of New York City, which manufactured and sold the instrument as "Bushnell's Improved Planimeter" and the "Bushnell-Coffin Planimeter."

This Bushnell-Coffin planimeter consists of an aluminum base with four black rubber feet. Two aluminum rods are screwed to the base, with a movable indicator on one rod and a sliding tube marked with six sets of scales for pressures on the other rod. A rectangular support for the planimeter arm is bolted to the base at the left end of the rods. The serial number 303 is stamped next to this support.

A smaller rectangular aluminum base slides between two bars on the right side of the larger base. Both bases have clamps for holding paper diagrams. The aluminum planimeter arm is a single curved bar. One end of the arm and a short cylindrical weight fit into a hole on the movable indicator. The other end of the arm has a tracer point that moves over the diagram held on the bases. A single bar near the weighted end of the arm has a brass vernier and a brass measuring wheel, which is numbered from 0 to 14, with each unit divided into five parts.

A wooden case covered with black leather is lined with blue velvet. The top of the case is marked: Bushnell – Coffin Planimeter. The left end of the case is marked: A–5. The right side of the case is marked: M.E. LAB. (/) COFFIN. A flap inside the lid holds the smaller base and flips up, perhaps to store extra paper. A ribbon on the flap has an oval logo marked: AMERICAN * SCHAFFER & BUDENBERG. Inside the oval are a picture of a steam engine gauge and the words: BROOKLYN, N.Y.

By 1916, the John S. Bushnell Company was making the Bushnell-Coffin Planimeter and the American Steam Gauge & Valve Manufacturing Company was selling it for $55.00. In 1923, American Steam Gauge, the Hohmann-Nelson Company, and the American division of the Schäffer & Budenberg Manufacturing Company merged to form American Schaeffer & Budenberg Corporation. The firm may have been purchased by Manning, Maxwell, and Moore in the late 1930s. The mechanical engineering laboratory of New York University owned this instrument.

This instrument has two arms. The German silver tracer arm has a support for the tracer point and is evenly divided by tenths numbered from 10 to 37. Ten units are equivalent to 5mm. The tracer arm fits within a carriage of brass, painted black, that also holds a white plastic measuring wheel and vernier and a metal registering dial. The pole arm is made of brass painted black and is attached to the carriage. The end of the pole arm fits into a rectangular metal weight faced with brass painted black. The weight is marked: G. Coradi Zürich (/) No 759. The bottom of the weight is covered with paper. A cylindrical brass weight fits into a hole on top of the pole arm. The testing rule is missing.

A wooden case covered with black leather is lined with purple velvet. A paper printed chart glued inside the lid has columns in German for Scales, Position of the vernier on the tracer bar, Value of the unit of the vernier on the measuring roller, and Constant. The values are handwritten. The date on the chart indicates the Coradi firm made serial number 759 on December 28, 1888.

Gottlieb Coradi (1847–1929) established a workshop in Zurich in 1880 and began making wheel and disc polar planimeters in the Amsler style soon thereafter. In 1894, he modified the design into the "compensating" polar planimeter; see MA*321777. Union College donated this instrument in 1964.

Reference: "People: Gottlieb Coradi," Waywiser, Harvard University Department of the History of Science, http://dssmhi1.fas.harvard.edu/emuseumdev/code/eMuseum.asp?lang=EN.

This German silver linear planimeter is T-shaped. The base of the T has a measuring scale, which no longer can be read due to rust, and a metal wheel that slides up and down the scale when the planimeter is moved. The top of the T has a tracing point at one end. The other end fits into a metal groove screwed inside a rectangular mahogany case. Two clips fastened inside the case are for holding the paper marked with a steam engine indicator diagram, but the paper received with this object is held in place by four metal thumbtacks.

The top of the case has a red and white inventory sticker marked: 1113 (/) 204-G-2. The sticker was presumably attached at Rutgers University, the donor of the object. A large white label glued inside the lid of the case is marked: THE • NEW • PLANIMETER (/) THE MECHANICAL SPECIALTIES MFG. CO. (/) 128 PURCHASE STREET, BOSTON, MASS. This label also has "directions for use." The inside bottom of the case is lined with blue paper. The paper held by thumbtacks contains a square drawn with pencil and marked: Begin here (/) Area (/) 4 sq. in. Above a circle drawn to the right of the square is marked: Circle is (/) 1 in. inside diam. (/) Area = Π / 4 = .785 sq. in. (/) Begin (/) here.

The Mechanical Specialties Manufacturing Company was known for its "Arc" steam engine indicator, which it started to sell in 1888. The firm was apparently short-lived. By 1900, the Boston Journal of Commerce and Textile Industries was published from its address, and by 1918, the Boston Office Furniture Exchange was located at its address. Rolla Clinton Carpenter, associate professor of experimental engineering at Cornell, did describe the instrument in an 1893 textbook.

This planimeter can measure larger diagrams than planimeters with a fixed arm, and it is designed to eliminate errors introduced by irregularities in the paper. It moves on two German silver rollers. The roller on the left rotates a steel wheel that in turn rotates an axle that turns the measuring wheel and registering dial. The measuring wheel has a vernier. All three parts are made of white plastic. The ten-inch rectangular German silver tracer arm is attached to a carriage below the measuring wheel and between the rollers. It has a brass tracer with steel point and support. The length of the arm is adjustable, and it is evenly divided to 0.5mm and numbered from 10 to 54. An extension for the tracer arm adds eight inches to its length and is numbered from 55 to 88.

Above the roller on the right is marked: G. Coradi, Zürich (/) Switzerland (/) No 1550. An oblong German silver testing rule is marked for 0", 1", 2", 3", and 4". It is also marked: G. Coradi. A fitted wooden case is covered with black leather and lined with purple velvet. The brush that goes in the corner of the case is missing. A paper printed calibration chart glued inside the lid has columns in French for Scales, Position of the vernier on the tracer bar, Value of the unit of the vernier on the measuring roller, and Constant. The values are handwritten, and the Constant column is crossed out. A paragraph explains how to store the instrument. The date on the chart indicates the Coradi firm made serial number 1,550 on November 2, 1901. A separate card has the chart values translated into English. According to a 1915 catalog, Coradi sold this size of planimeter as model 30.

The top of the case is marked: MU 3412. The key for the case is tied to the handle with string. A metal circle on the bottom of the case is marked: WEBCO. The Zurich workshop of Gottlieb Coradi (1847–1929) made a variety of planimeters beginning in the early 1880s, with the rolling sphere form debuting around 1900. The Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Missouri-Columbia donated this example in 1972. Although when and where the department acquired it is not known, American firms such as Keuffel & Esser and Dietzgen distributed Coradi's precision disc planimeter. K&E sold this size before 1901 as model 1106 and from 1901 to 1936 as model 4260, charging $82.50 in 1900. Dietzgen only sold a larger version that had twelve-inch and eight-inch tracer arm pieces. Compare to 1977.0112.01. A later instruction manual is 1977.0112.02. For other objects from the Univ. of Missouri's donation, see MA*333663 and MA*333636.

This is a later printing of 1978.0800.02. Its citation information is: E. I. Fiesenheiser, Versalog Slide Rule Instruction Manual, with R. A. Budenholzer and B. A. Fisher (Chicago: Frederick Post Company, 1963). The text appears not to have been revised since these three Illinois Institute of Technology engineering professors helped invent the Versalog slide rule and wrote instructions for using it in 1951. Marks inside the front cover indicate this copy was offered for sale in January 1969 for $1.00.